Labour migration, both internal and international, involves labour withdrawing from one sector and moving to meet the demand in another. Defined more narrowly, it involves an individual leaving his or her place of residence, to work elsewhere, for more than six months. Migration is a common financial strategy in Indonesia's rural areas: by allocating labour resources among different regions or countries, households can reduce risk and increase their income.
When considered as a component of a social group's family or household strategy, migration can be largely explained by the theory of the new economics of labour migration - a useful analytical tool for understanding how migration can transform the economies of families with migrants. According to migration theories (such those of human capital, networks and mobility transition), elements including wage gaps, income risks, education, gender, family, infrastructure, landownership and credit access can influence an individual's decision whether to migrate, either to a city or to another country. These theories also explain that such decisions depend on human, social, and physical capital, as well as on migration networks and government policy.
This thesis aims to identify and analyse the determinants of the decisions behind rural-urban migration and international migration in the rural Malang district of East Java, using primary data drawn from a survey of 360 respond-ents across all 12 villages in the kecamatan (sub-district) of Wagir. It also examines secondary data from government institutions, particularly Statistics Indonesia's 2006 Village Potential (Potensi Desa) survey of the province, which reported on the migration activities and socio-economic status of selected households from 7,677 villages.
The study's data analysis uses probit and Tobit estimations to provide evidence that numerous variables influence migration decisions. It finds, for instance, that the educational background, sex and age of individuals have a positive and significant effect on whether they migrate abroad. The education variable, in particular, provides a positive and significant coefficient for the propensity to migrate - that is, the greater the level of education received by individuals in rural areas in East Java the more likely they are to seek employment overseas. Higher levels of education expand individuals' migration options, not only to countries that offer higher wages but also to those that would ensure their rights as domestic workers. Women of working age are also more likely to migrate abroad than their male counterparts.
Poverty is also a positive and significant coefficient for migration; the higher the number of poor people living in a village, the more likely it is that individuals will move overseas for work. Conversely, if individuals have access to water, health insurance or markets, or if they live in villages that have a large proportion of non-irrigated land being used for non-agricultural activities, they will be less likely to seek employment elsewhere.
This thesis asserts that local and provincial administrations should focus their developmental efforts on villages with non-irrigated land, or on those disadvantaged by a scarcity of land and water resources. Improving credit and market access, for example, would encourage individuals to remain in rural areas, promote self-reliance, and increase both agricultural productivity and household incomes.
© 2013 Wildan Syafitri